In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.

Fahrenheit 451 involves such characters as Guy Montag, Mildred Montag, Captain Beatty, and Clarisse McClellan. Fahrenheit presents the firemen as the tools of censorship and illegal books. Since books rarely exist in their society they look not to things of intellectual worth, but to things with physical and non-thinking pleasure. As the people become zombies to television and the "four walls," which is a form of television in their society they become resistant to change. They like everything to happen neatly and predictably, just like the television shows. Mildred, Montag's wife, becomes totally dependent upon the "four walls" to not only bring her entertainment throughout the day, but to be a source of consistency. The programs on the television are extremely unintelligent and Montag's question why Mildred watches it so much but there is never a real answer to his question. He later meet up with Clarisse McCellan who questions his life, and his happiness, Montag later questions the society's values and pursues them to find out why books are banned and finds himself fascinated with them and learns the consequences of reading in his society.

In "You Have Insulted Me" a letter by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is another good example of censorship in our own society. That relates to Fahrenheit 451 concerning censorship but there...

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...The Art of Burning Books
Fahrenheit451 is a book that at first glance deals with censorship. Censorship has always been an issue with different governments across the world. From the Bible being banned in countries where Christianity is not practiced by the majority to the recent WikiLeaks scandal in which the website has published secret government documents on various international wars and affairs that have been kept from the general public, censorship is practiced in all countries. Since Ray Bradbury’s novel deals with this kind of governmental censorship of knowledge and information, it is easy to interpret that he wrote this book to condemn the government’s power over the public. Book burning is one of the most extreme, but also common censorships out there. It is one of the easiest ways to suppress information, but in a way, it is also the most violent. The destruction of someone’s ideas and thoughts lead Bradbury to create a group of characters who try to memorize the books’ content to keep those ideas alive. It is a powerful image and a powerful way to fight censorship. This motif is close to Bradbury’s heart for two reasons. As a writer, he is completely against editors censoring the creativity and originality of authors as they did during the days he published this novel. The second point is that he lived the aftermaths of WWII and the on-setting Red Scare that occurred within the United States. A climate like that would’ve made...

...The setting in Fahrenheit451, by Ray Bradbury, is a very controlled and powerful atmosphere. The burning of books is a prime example of the control the government has on society. Not only does the society lack knowledge, they live in an up roaring city where your own neighbors will turn against you in a second. The controlled setting reinforces the story’s central idea that a culture can be stymied when government decides to eliminate freedom of expression and original thought. This theme is further reinforced by the cultural/historical/biographic influences of the time this book was written, specifically: the beginning of the Civil Rights movement and the McCarthy trials and communism.
In December of 1955, the Civil Rights Movement was beginning when a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for a white male. The government showed an enormous agreement with the white population rather than the black. In an interview with Rosa Parks, she states, “…he wanted to know if I was going to stand up, and I told him I was not. And he told me he would have me arrested. And I told him he may do that. And of course, he did” (Parks). The severity of Parks’ crime at this point in time led to her arrest and conviction. Rosa had violated the laws of segregation, also known as the Jim Crow Laws. The lack of integration with the black and white community was becoming infuriating for the blacks. The control that the government...

...of the first part of Fahrenheit451. The hearth, or fireplace, is a traditional symbol of the home; the salamander is one of the official symbols of the firemen, as well as the name they give to their fire trucks. Both of these symbols have to do with fire, the dominant image of Montag’s life—the hearth because it contains the fire that heats a home, and the salamander because of ancient beliefs that it lives in fire and is unaffected by flames.
The hearth is a symbol of the home, and the salamander is a symbol of the firemen.
Back in the day, Gangs used to protect the hood it represented and made sure enemies do not step foot on their property. Currently, Gangs hurt random innocent people, and do despicable things. This relates to Fahrenheit451, how Firemen used to put out fires, opposed to setting them. Firemen would save citizens from house fires or building fires and assemble rescue teams for more safety. However, the Firemen described in the book, set fires by burning people’s homes and personal assets like BOOKS. For Montag, Fire can be classified in two ways; depression (in the beginning) and warmth and comfort (in the end). The salamander is Montag’s depression because being a firemen, he has made his life secretly unhappy. The hearth is Montag’s warmth and comfort. In the end of the novel, when he sits by the bonfire and feels a good kind of warmth, he feels at home.
The sieve and the sand
The title...

...Prof. Kordich
English 68
10 June 2013
Dreams that Destroy Freedom
American culture thrives on being ‘the land of the free’. The rags-to-riches story to the immigrant success story, seem to define the American Dream. We are told that these achievements can be done by adapting to America’s ideals and cultural norms. The ‘American Dream’ is attainable for those who fall in step with the majority. This conformity is illustrated in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit451. In the novel, Guy Montag becomes disillusioned with the illiterate ignorance of his society. Through a series of tragic events, Montag finds the vapid world must be changed. This change will be the only way to attain true knowledge, thus freedom. This society, based in ‘fiction’, echoes many of the same values encouraged by the American Dream. By considering the values of media influence, ideal appearance and importance of the nature, it is clear that the American Dream in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit451 makes its occupants ignorant and selfish. .
Within Bradbury’s Fahrenheit, media is used as tool to eliminate a thoughtful society. The government creates ignorance through the empty television programming the citizens are exposed to. For example, Montag arrives home and finds Mildred and her guests watching senseless streams of incoherent images. As Montag watches the women from a removed area of the room while the walls projected, “Abruptly...

...There is No Tomorrow Without Yesterday:
Social Commentary Essay on Fahrenheit451
Society is a dynamic compilation of ideas and people that is always changing, growing, and developing. Usually as the future becomes the present, people grow more intelligent and as a whole the human race progresses. In the book Fahrenheit451 by Ray Bradbury, this is not the case. The story follows a man by the name of Guy Montag as he searches for answers in a world where asking questions can be deadly. Guy lives in a society where books are burned and thinking is socially unacceptable. Because Montag is a firefighter he assists the government in ridding the country of books. He knows something is missing but he isn’t sure what the missing puzzle piece is until he meets a young girl named Clarisse Mclellan. Clarisse is not in his life for long but she has a great impact on Montag by provoking him to think. By asking him questions she allows him to look deep within himself and realize he is in a loveless relationship, a terrible, guilt-racking job, and he doesn’t know what is right or wrong. Through a series of important events Montag is able to learn how to read and understand, and in the end is ready to help work towards a brighter tomorrow, learning from the past. In the novel Bradbury uses his characters to say that society is becoming a body of ignorant people who are lacking the ability to love, the ability to express...

...Thought
Imagine a world with no free thought and where reading books is viewed as a threat to society and the happiness of its citizens. Ray Bradbury did just this in his novel Fahrenheit451. Concerned by the rise of technology and the relationship between burning books and burning people, Bradbury sought to highlight the dangerous path that society is on, one that could lead to mindlessness and thoughtlessness. In Fahrenheit451, Bradbury challenges thoughtlessness and promotes freethinking through the construction of his characters. He uses the character of Mildred and her friends to show the consequences of a superficial, dumbed-down society that focuses on pleasure, while Montag and Clarisse show the power and importance of free thought.
Mildred is presented in Fahrenheit451 as the epitome of the thoughtless society where knowledge has given way to entertainment. Mildred is the victim of a pleasure-driven society, she has been drawn into the trappings of technology which have then made her dull and destroyed her free thought. Mildred is constantly watching the ‘parlour’ and calls it the ‘family’, showing that in this society technology has replaced genuine relationships. She listens to the seashell every night which insinuates a dependence on the technology.
In fact, the first time that we meet Mildred she is described as dead, “like a body displayed on the lid of a tomb.”...

...Bethany Edwards
Censorship or Knowledge
Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit451 is a good example of censorship and restriction and the results of what can happen because of this. Ray Bradbury predicts in his novel that the future is without literature -- everything from newspapers to novels to the Bible. This novel is about a world that is so structured and censored that even a common fireman exist not to fight fires, for all buildings are fireproof, but instead to burn books. Books are made to be thought of as evil and anyone caught with books hidden in their home is forced out of it while the firemen force their way in and turn the house into an inferno. Fahrenheit451 is a horrific account of what could happen in an all too close future when society carries "political correctness" to its extreme. Set in the 24th century, Ray Bradbury tells a story of the protagonist, Guy Montag. At first, Montag takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag soon begins to question the value of his profession and, in turn, his life. He begins to wonder why some people are willing to sacrifice their lives to keep their books. In a society where censorship and restrictions are in force, always a few people will resist this control and seek to find the answers. Montag becomes one of these people as he begins to question “why” reading books are...

...Fahrenheit451 is a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury. This novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and firemen burn any house that contains them. In the novel, Ray Bradbury talks about the human experience of censorship and ignorance/knowledge.
In Fahrenheit451, owning and reading books is illegal. If books are found, they are burned and their owner is arrested. If the owner refuses to abandon them, he or she dies, burning along with them. People are viewed as strange and possible threats when the have interests other than entertainment and technology. This society lives off of entertainment and speed through life. Advertisements, fast cars, and loud music create a society in which there is no room for works of literature, self-reflection, or appreciation of nature. Bradbury hints to the idea that different minority groups were offended by certain type of literature. For example, Beatty mentions that dog lovers were offended by book about cats, and cat lovers were offended by books about dogs. In Bradbury’s afterword to the novel, he expresses his own sensitivity of attempts to restrict his writing. He felt censored by letters sent to him suggesting that she should give better roles to women. He sees these suggestions as the first step towards censorship.
Another human experience Bradbury explores is ignorance and knowledge. Throughout the novel, the reader is presented with a...